Granny Chic

Now, if there's something I LOVE it's a crafty book...

Granny Chic is the newest bestest thing to come from Ted and Agnes and Dottie Angel and I was seeing it everywhere on Instagram. People had posted pictures of some of the pages from the book, and it soon went staright to the top of my 'Books I really want but haven't got any money' list.

So when I saw it in The Works for only £5.99 but heart did a fluttery thing and I snatched it up. (There were quite a few on the shelf and I was the only one in the shop so the snatching wasn't nessesary...)

You can sort of just tell from the fornt cover that its going to be amazing. It is the only book I own where I want to make everything. EVERYTHING. That's going to take up a lot of time. 

But, depending on how you look at it, luckily, it didnt take me long to get started. On one hand, I get to make pretty things and dream of having an amazing caravan, on the other.... my uni work suffers even more! 

The pretty things win. 

So I took a stool I have long ago crocheted a cosy for, and made it even better! 

I had always felt it was missing something, so I added the doily. A direct inspiration from the book!

But it doesn't stop there...

I was doing a round of the charity shop... which is always nice. People don't seem to want the same things as me, so I usually find some good bargains, and since car boots are way too cold now... charity shops it is! And I saw something out of the corner of my eye... I was too excited... ANYWAY... It was a soon to be lovely old granny chic-ed up lampshade! Just realised that in my excitement I didn't take a before and after photo!

After stripping the fabric off it, it sat on the coffee table in the living room looking at me for about a day before I knew what I wanted to do with it.

Ribbon is always a winner!

And ta da! I couldn't really be more pleased with this. It fits in so nicely in my room, and the fairy lights make the perfect light to watch rubbish tv on 4OD.

It's a shame that my degree doesn't fill me with this kind of satisfaction. Oh well! Not long now...

I think I might go and hibernate in my duvet while I real some super interesting peer- reviewed articles from some lovely journals now.

 Or I'll do some more embroidery...

Stitching Away

So I have started something else.

I have never really tried hand embroidery before... By looking through some really pretty books has given me the push! It seemed like quite a natural progression from the cross stitch anyway...

I love it.

It's like doodling - which I am awful at. I can only doodle hearts, stars, cups of tea and those weird interlocking Celtic type knit things which look like an S that everyone used to draw in middle school. And stick people.

But doodling with thread! Yaaay!

So I made a toadstool house. Of course. It was meant to be a Christmas decoration, but it's going to live in the Singer all year round. Until I move out of course.



And then I remembered that I acquired some sparkly aida that I didn't think I would ever actually use.... But Christmas is coming you know!

So this happened...

And now... Well now I really need to be getting in with uni work. The amount of work I need to be doing seems to directly correlate with how much I don't want to do it. So this is currently happening.... Happy Thursday everyone!!

A Printy Weekend

The other day I got very excited because I cut and printed my very first lino cutting! Yay!

If you know me well, you'll know that things like this make me very happy. You'll also know that when I do something new I become OBSESSED. 

So it's only fitting that I spent most of my weekend cutting bits of lino, stabbing my thumb with a blade and printing stuff! Here's some sneaky peeks... (the thing I really want to show you, I can't. It's my design for my Christmas cards...) 

 Oh, and just a quick note on where the whole lino cutting idea came from... The Mollie Makes Christmas book. Buy it. Seriously. RRP is £10 and it is so worth that!  

So this Dala horse was originally an embroidery design from the Christmas issue of Mollie Makes (starting to sound like an advert for them!) from a whole year ago... and whilst I LOVE this design... I wanted something of my own... which I am not sharing with you all just yet...

But I seriously couldn't be happier with how it turned out! 

 

This was entirely the boyfriends idea. (in fact it was my idea, he was just the one to cut it out)

Then these little fishes happened... I rather like them. 

So there we have it! Some, but not all of my lino cuttings from the weekend. If you are inspired, I really would suggest buying the Mollie Makes book, it's lovely. And all the rest of the projects in there are inspiring too! And if I can do something which takes this much care, and only stab myself in the hand once, then you can to! Hurrah! 

Gathered

Now... We all know and love Mollie Makes, and have done for a while... 

So imagine my excitement when I heard that they were bringing out a new, weekly, iPad magazine!

Have you seen it yet? If not, then why not!? 

Since hearing about it, I looked regularly to see if the app was in the app store... then last Thursday it was there. 

The only thing I was worrying about was how much it was going to be! (I already have many magazine subscriptions) 

But at £2.99 a month - that's at least four issues, is a bit of a steal! 

AND it looks beautiful! 

 

It's nice to meet you too! 

And thanks for adding ANOTHER craft I need to do onto my list. I really want to make those needle felted acorns... 

I'm a printer!

No, not an electrical one!

The other day I got some lino and a lino cutting tool. (As if I needed another craft to get obsessed over!)

I have been putting off making my first cut since Saturday because I wanted to take my time and do it properly.... But then another argument with student finance later... I found myself cutting out a little birdy design! And I'm rather pleased! It's by no means perfect... But practise makes perfect right?! ;)

Cosy Cosy Autumn...

Ooh I don't know about you, but I have definitely been feeling the cold! I love the cold. My favourite sort of day is one where you leave the house and the air feels crisp on your skin. Reminds me I'm alive! (Not that I didn't know already!)

Plus these sorts of days come with the additional bonus that I have an amazing excuse to make things like this!

The colours are so lovely and bright! Sometimes when I'm on the bus feeling sick or sitting in a lecture feeling bored... I look at this and it literally brightens up my mood!

Christmas starts here!

At school, rehearsals for the Christmas carol concert started in September. This used to make me very happy. 

I recently bought the Mollie Makes Christmas book which is quite new out. This book contains all the best things about Mollie Makes - I think the reason I love it is because its FULL of projects (as you would expect). It inspired me to have a totally hand made Christmas as far as decorations go! It is very exciting... 

So I was even happier when I realised my list of things to make was as long as a chocolate bar! Because this meant I could start now! (A chocolate bar doesn't seem long but these things take time! A lot more time than the chocolate would last anyway...)

But never fear! I have started, and not without some weird looks from onlookers when they realised that that was red AND green I was working with... And only red and green. That can only mean one thing!

 

Nostalgia...

I LOVE old things.

Here is a list of old things that I adore...

1. Old Advertising.

Because it makes me feel like these people actually liked their advertising...?

2. Old Toys.

 Because Lizzie is scary, but Dexter is smashing.

3. Old Cookery Items.

 Because it would be impossible to know what cakes and jellies they have held in the past.

4. Old Cases.

 

Because, again, you'll never know. 

5. Old Books. 

Because, well, of course!

6. My Old Typewriter

 Because it's rather nice. (And I bought it for £2!!)

  

7. My Old Singer.

Because it's beautiful, solid, and I bought it on the same day as the typewriter for £8!!

8. Old Cameras.

Because - Imagine the photos this took!! 

9. Old Railway Posters

Because they're local. (I don't know if they are really old or just pretending, but we love them all the same!)

10. Old Photos. 

Because they're family. 

There has been a huge fashion for retro and vintage for a long time now. For me, it's less of a fashion and more of an adoration. Fashions come and go, but these objects have so much history in them, and have given many people, including me, a lot of happpiness. So I am 100% sure that when (if) this fashion dies out, I won't be following the new one. I couldn't give some of these things up. 

Cross Stitching... not the angry kind...

Is there even an angry kind? Maybe it's like angry sex with the absence of sex... 

ANYWAY... I have long admired the graphic designs of modern cross stitching. And LONG love the designs of Emily Peacock... but that's pretty much where my knowledge of it ended... 

I recently went into a shop in Cambride called Ark... They had a wonderful retro style Cross Stitch sampler. And being of the crafty minded sort, I thought 'I like it, but I want to make it myself!' 

I couldn't even count the amount of times I have said that in my life.

Not many things scare me in the world of making things... but Cross Stitch always has...

Then some people told me how easy it was... I just happened to pick up the most recent copy of Cross Stitcher Magazine... 

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED!!!

  Yup! I single handedly, Cross Stitched a whole butterfly all by myself and I'm very proud! I have now worked out how to do waste knots properly, and it wasn't nearly as hard or scary as I thought it would be! 

And even though it took a whole, hand over day to make... I love it! 

I spent the next few days with nothing on my mind but Cross Stitch (Yeah, I'm cool!) so I was already planning my next one... and here it is (WHY oh why did I learn to do this just as I am going back to university!?) 

 I have a long list of things I want to Cross Stitch. 

Better get on with some research now! (boo!)